Table Of ContentThe international pictogram for toxic
chemicals.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of poison[1] stretches from before 4500 BC to the present
day. Poisons have been used for many purposes across the span of
human existence, most commonly as weapons, anti-venoms, and
medicines. Poison has allowed much progress in branches, toxicology,
and technology, among other sciences.
Poison was discovered in ancient times, and was used by ancient tribes
and civilizations as a hunting tool to quicken and ensure the death of
their prey or enemies. This use of poison grew more advanced, and
many of these ancient peoples began forging weapons designed
specifically for poison enhancement. Later in history, particularly at the
time of the Roman Empire, one of the more prevalent uses was
assassination. As early as 331 BC, poisonings executed at the dinner
table or in drinks were reported, and the practice became a common
occurrence. The use of fatal substances was seen among every social
class; even the nobility would often use it to dispose of unwanted
political or economic opponents.
In Medieval Europe, poison became a more popular form of killing, though cures surfaced for many of the
more widely known poisons. This was stimulated by the increased availability of poisons; shops known as
apothecaries, selling various medicinal wares, were open to the public, and from there, substances that were
traditionally used for curative purposes were employed for more sinister ends. At approximately the same time,
in the Middle East, Arabs developed a form of arsenic that is odorless and transparent, making the poison
difficult to detect. This "poison epidemic" was also prevalent in parts of Asia at this time, as well.
Over the centuries, the variety of harmful uses of poisons continued to increase. The means for curing these
poisons also advanced in parallel. In the modern world, intentional poisoning is less common than the Middle
Ages. Rather, the more common concern is the risk of accidental poisoning from everyday substances and
products.
Constructive uses for poisons have increased considerably in the modern world. Poisons are now used as
pesticides, disinfectants, cleaning solutions, and preservatives. Nonetheless, poison continues to be used as a
hunting tool in remote parts of developing countries, including Africa, South America, and Asia.
1 Origins of poison
2 Later imperial Asia
3 Present day
4 See also
5 References and notes
6 External links
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Strychnos toxifera, a
plant used for the making
of dart and arrow poisons
Archaeological findings prove that while ancient mankind used conventional
weapons such as axes and clubs, and later swords, they sought more subtle,
destructive means of causing death—something that could be achieved through
poison.[2] Grooves for storing or holding poisons such as tubocurarine have been
plainly found in their hunting weapons and tools, showing that early humans had
discovered poisons of varying potency and applied them to their weapons.[2] Some
speculate that this use and existence of these strange and noxious substances was
kept secret within the more important and higher-ranked members of a tribe or
clan, and were seen as emblems of a greater power. This may have also given birth
to the concept of the stereotypical "medicine man" or "witch doctor".[2]
Once the use and danger of poison was realized, it became apparent that
something had to be done. Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (an ancient Hellenistic
state of northern Anatolia), from around 114–63 BC, lived in constant fear of
being assassinated through poison. He became a hard-working pioneer in the
search for a cure for poisons.[2] In his position of power, he was able to test
poisons on criminals facing execution, and then if there was a possible antidote. He was paranoid to the point
that he administered daily amounts of poisons in an attempt to make himself immune to as many poisons as he
could.[2] Eventually, he discovered a formula that combined small portions of dozens of the best-known herbal
remedies of the time, which he named Mithridatium.[2] This was kept secret until his kingdom was invaded by
Pompey the Great, who took it back to Rome. After being defeated by Pompey, Mithridates' antidote
prescriptions and notes of medicinal plants were taken by the Romans and translated into Latin.[3]
Pliny the Elder describes over 7000 different poisons. One he describes as "The blood of a duck found in a
certain district of Pontus, which was supposed to live on poisonous food, and the blood of this duck was
afterwards used in the preparation of the Mithridatum, because it fed on poisonous plants and suffered no
harm."[2]
India
Indian surgeon Sushruta defined the stages of slow poisoning and the remedies of slow poisoning. He also
mentions antidotes and the use of traditional substances to counter the effects of poisoning.[4]
Poisoned weapons were used in ancient India,[5] and war tactics in ancient India have references to poison. A
verse in Sanskrit reads "Jalam visravayet sarmavamavisravyam ca dusayet," which translates to "Waters of
wells were to be mixed with poison and thus polluted."[5]
Chānakya (c. 350–283 BC), also known as Kautilya, was adviser and prime minister[6] to the first Maurya
Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BC). Kautilya suggested employing means such as seduction, secret use of
weapons, and poison for political gain.[7] He also urged detailed precautions against assassination—tasters for
food and elaborate ways to detect poison.[8] In addition, the death penalty for violations of royal decrees was
frequently administered through the use of poison.[9]
Egypt
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An example of a flint
sword and spear,
weapons used for hunting
in ancient times.
A bust of the Roman Emperor Nero, who
used cyanide to dispose of unwanted
family members
Unlike many civilizations, records of Egyptian knowledge and use of poisons can
only be dated back to approximately 300 BC. However, it is believed that the
earliest known Egyptian pharaoh, Menes, studied the properties of poisonous
plants and venoms, according to early records.[2]
The Egyptians are also thought to have come into knowledge about elements such
as antimony, copper, crude arsenic, lead, opium, and mandrake (among others)
which are mentioned in papyri. Egyptians are now thought to be the first to master
distillation, and to manipulate the poison that can be retrieved from apricot
kernels.[2]
Cleopatra is said to have poisoned herself with an asp after hearing of Marc
Antony's demise. Prior to her death, she was said to have sent many of her
maidservants to act as guinea pigs to test different poisons, including belladonna,
henbane, and the strychnine tree's seed.[10]
After this, the alchemist Agathodaemon (around AD 300) spoke of a mineral that
when mixed with natron produced a 'fiery poison'. He described this poison as
'disappearing in water', giving a clear solution.[11] Emsley speculates that the 'fiery
poison' was arsenic trioxide, the unidentified mineral having to have been either
realgar or orpiment, due to the relation between the unidentified mineral and his other writings.[11]
Rome
In Roman times, poisoning carried out at the dinner table or
common eating or drinking area was not unheard of, or even
uncommon, and was happening as early as 331 BC.[2] These
poisonings would have been used for self-advantageous reasons in
every class of the social order. The writer Livy describes the
poisoning of members of the upper class and nobles of Rome, and
Roman emperor Nero is known to have favored the use of poisons
on his relatives, even hiring a personal poisoner. His preferred
poison was said to be cyanide.[2]
Nero's predecessor, Claudius, was allegedly poisoned with
mushrooms or alternatively poison herbs.[12] However, accounts of
the way Claudius died vary greatly. Halotus, his taster, Xenophon,
his doctor, and the infamous poisoner Locusta have all been
accused of possibly being the administrator of the fatal substance,
but Agrippina, his final wife, is considered to be the most likely to
have arranged his murder and may have even administered the
poison herself. Some report that he died after prolonged suffering
following a single dose at his evening meal, while some say that he
recovered somewhat, only to be poisoned once more by a feather
dipped in poison which was pushed down his throat under the
pretense of helping him to vomit,[13] or by poisoned gruel or an
enema.[12] Agrippina is considered to be the murderer, because she
was ambitious for her son, Nero, and Claudius had become suspicious of her intrigues.[14]
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Poison/Drug
Antidote
paracetamol (acetaminophen)
N-acetylcysteine[19]
vitamin K anticoagulants, e.g. warfarin vitamin K, Protamine[19]
narcotics/opioids
naloxone[20]
iron (and other heavy metals)
deferoxamine[19]
benzodiazepines
flumazenil[19]
ethylene glycol
ethanol or fomepizole[20]
methanol
ethanol or fomepizole[20][21]
cyanide
amyl nitrite, sodium nitrite, and sodium thiosulfate[19][22]
Despite the negative effects of poison, which were so evident in these times, cures were being found in poison,
even at such a time where it was hated by the most of the general public. An example can be found in the
works of Iranian born Persian physician, philosopher, and scholar Rhazes, writer of Secret of Secrets, which
was a long list of chemical compounds, minerals and appratus, the first man to distil alcohol and use it as an
anti-septic, and the person who suggested mercury be used as a laxative. He made discoveries relating to a
mercury chloride called corrosive sublimate. An ointment derived from this sublimate was used to cure what
Rhazes described as 'the itch', which is now referred to as scabies. This proved an effective treatment because
of mercury's poisonous nature and ability to penetrate the skin, allowing it to eliminate the disease and the
itch.[15]
In India, the troubled 14th and 15th centuries in Rajasthan saw invasions in the Rajput heartlands. Rajput
women practiced a custom of jauhar ( literally the taking of life) when their sons, brothers, or husbands faced
certain death in battle. Jauhar was practiced within the Kshatriya warrior class to avoid the fate of
subservience, slavery, rape, or slaughter at the hands of the invading forces.[16]
Nazi suicides by poison
Nazi war leader Hermann Göring used cyanide to kill himself the night before he was supposed to be hanged
during the Nuremberg Trials.[17] Adolf Hitler had also taken a pill of cyanide but he bit down on the capsule
and shot himself in the right temple shortly before the fall of Berlin along with his wife, Eva Braun.[18]
In the late
20th
century, an
increasing
number of
products
used for
everyday
life proved
to be
poisonous.
The risk of
being
poisoned
nowadays lies more in the accidental factor, where poison be induced or taken by accident. Poisoning is the 4th
most common cause of death within young people. Accidental ingestions are most common in children less
than 5 years old.
However, hospital and emergency facilities are much enhanced compared to the first half of the 20th century
and before, and antidotes are more available. Antidotes have been found for many poisons, and the antidotes
for some of the most commonly known poisons are shown in the table above:
However, poison still exists as a murderous entity today, but it is not as popular form of conducting murder as
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A cropduster spreading pesticide.
it used to be in past times, probably because of the wider range of ways to kill people and other factors that
must be taken into consideration. One of the more recent deaths by poisoning was that of Russian dissident
Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 from lethal polonium-210 radiation poisoning.[23]
Other uses
Today, poison is used for a wider variety of purposes than it used
to be. For example, poison can be used to rid an unwanted
infestation by pests or to kill weeds. Such chemicals, known as
pesticides,[24] have been known to be used in some form since
about 2500 BC. However, the use of pesticides has increased
staggeringly from 1950, and presently approximately 2.5 million
tons of industrial pesticides are used each year.[25] Other poisons
can also be used to preserve foods and building material.
In culture
Today, in many developing peoples of countries such as certain
parts of Africa, South America and Asia, the use of poison as an
actual weapon of hunting and attack still endures.
In Africa, certain arrow poisons are made using floral ingredients,
such as of that taken from the plant Acokanthera. This plant
contains ouabain, which is a cardiac glycoside, oleander, and
milkweeds.[26] Poisoned arrows are also still used in the jungle
areas of Assam, Burma and Malaysia. The ingredients for the
creation of these poisons are mainly extracted from plants of the Antiaris, Strychnos and Strophanthus genera,
and Antiaris toxicaria (a tree of the mulberry and breadfruit family), for example, is used in the Java island of
Indonesia, as well as several of its surrounding islands. The juice or liquid extracts are smeared on the head of
the arrow, and inflicts the target paralysis, convulsions and/or cardiac arrest, virtually on strike due to the speed
in which the extracts can affect a victim.[27]
As well as plant based poisons, there are others that are made that are based on animals. For example, the larva
or pupae of a beetle genus of the Northern Kalahari Desert is used to create a slow-acting poison that can be
quite useful when hunting. The beetle itself is applied to the arrow head, by squeezing the contents of the
beetle right onto the head. Plant sap is then mixed and serves as an adhesive. However, instead of the plant sap,
a powder made from the dead, eviscerated larva can be used.[28]
Forensic science
List of chemical elements
List of Extremely Hazardous Substances
Toxicity
List of poisonings
Poison
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Poison is defined as a "substance that causes death or
injury when swallowed or absorbed." Colins
Dictionaries, from the Bank of English (2001).
Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. p. 594.
ISBN 0-00-766691-8.
1.
"Ancient poisons". Retrieved 1 April 2007.
2.
Grout, James. Mithridatum
(http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout
/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/mithridatum.html)
(June 2008). Retrieved on 29 April 2007.
3.
Wujastyk, D. et al. The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections
from Sanskrit Medical Writings. ISBN
0-14-044824-1. p. 144
4.
Chatterjee, Hiralal. International Law and Inter-state
Relations in Ancient India (1958). K. L.
Mukhopadhyay. p. 104
5.
Boesche, Roger (January 2003). "Kautilya's
Arthaśāstra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient
India". The Journal of Military History. 67 (1): 9–37.
doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0006. "Kautilya is sometimes
called a chancellor or prime minister to
Chandragupta, something like a Bismarck…"
6.
Chamola, S.D. Kautilya Arthshastra and the Science
of Management: Relevance for the Contemporary
Society ISBN 81-7871-126-5. p. 40
7.
Boesche, Roger (September 2002). "Moderate
Machiavelli: Contrasting The Prince with the
Arthashastra of Kautilya". Critical Horizons. Brill
Academic Publishers. 3 (2): 253.
doi:10.1163/156851602760586671.
ISSN 1440-9917.
8.
Archer, Christon I. World History of Warfare (2002).
University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4423-1.
p. 48
9.
Readers Digest. (1986). Magic and Medicine of
Plants. Pleasantville, N.Y: Reader's Digest
Association. p. 389. ISBN 0-89577-221-3.
10.
Emsley, pp. 2–3
11.
Suetonius, Claudius
12.
Tacitus; Annals XII p. 64, pp. 66–67;
13.
Accounts of his death: Suetonius Claudius p. 43–44;
Tacitus; Annals XII 64, pp. 66–67; Pliny the Elder
Natural History II p. 92, XI p. 189, XXII p. 92.
14.
Emsley, pp. 3–4
15.
Bose, Mandakranta. Faces of the Feminine in
Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India (2000). Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-512229-1. p. 26
16.
The Sentencing and Execution of Nazi War
Criminals, 1946
(http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com
/nurembergcont.htm). Retrieved on 3 April 2007.
17.
TIME magazine – How Hitler Died
(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article
/0,9171,902253,00.html). Retrieved 21 May 2007.
18.
Poison Antidotes (http://www.uic.edu/com/er/toxikon
/antidot.htm). Retrieved on 21 April 2007.
19.
Emergency Medical Department
(http://ime.healthpartners.com/IME/Menu
/0,,23274,00.html). Retrieved 21 May 2007.
Archived (https://web.archive.org
/web/20071009001826/http://ime.healthpartners.com
/IME/Menu/0,,23274,00.html) 9 October 2007 at the
Wayback Machine.
20.
Mycyk MB, Leikin JB (2003). "Antidote review:
fomepizole for methanol poisoning". American
journal of therapeutics. 10 (1): 68–70.
doi:10.1097/00045391-200301000-00015.
PMID 12522524.
21.
For a study by the IPCS on antidotes of cyanide, see
this study (http://www.inchem.org/documents
/antidote/antidote
/ant02.htm#SubSectionNumber:1.9.2).
22.
Litvinenko, Alexander. "HPA Press Release". Health
Protection Agency. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
23.
What is a Pesticide? (http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
/about/index.htm) (US EPA definitions) retrieved 24
June 2006
24.
Miller, G. Tyler Jr. (2002). Living in the Environment
(12th Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
25.
"African arrow poison ingredients". Retrieved
28 April 2007.
26.
"Poisoned Arrows". Retrieved 30 April 2007.
27.
"Animal Based Poisons Today – Kalahari Beetle".
Archived from the original on 26 April 2007.
Retrieved 30 April 2007.
28.
Emsley, John (May 2005). The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison. New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-280599-1.
History of Poisons (http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group12/index.htm)
www.poison.org (http://www.poison.org/)
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Dark History of Poison (http://medgadget.com/archives/2006/12/poison_a_dark_h.html)
Arsenic Poisoning History (http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/intro/index.html)
"The Savior from Demise: A Book on Withstanding the Harms of Deadly Poisons" (http://www.wdl.org
/en/item/4284) from 1431 (in Arabic)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_poison&oldid=752797275"
Categories: Poisons
History by topic
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